


Lines

by sibimet



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, but the relevant thing rn is that, kuroo is hot and tsukki is fucked
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-28 23:56:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20787179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sibimet/pseuds/sibimet
Summary: Standing in front of the tattoo parlor, unconsciously clutching the card he was just given for dear life, Kei reconsidered all of his previous life choices. He couldn’t decide if his wrist was oversensitive or if he couldn’t feel it anymore. It was only noon. The sun was shining. His phone buzzed in his pocket.Alternatively, that one time a bet Kei made backfired hard enough to throw him for a serious loop.





	Lines

**Author's Note:**

> Welp. This is one of those 'this is my first fic and english isn't my native language' type of things. No beta to fix stuff either, so please excuse any mistakes, this has been written mostly at night. 
> 
> Anyways, I have many feelings about krtsk in general and apparently this is how my brain has decided to act out. To be fair, it started with art, but I wanna keep ao3 separate from my insta for now lol. Hopefully I'll have enough inspo to finish this eventually, but for now : Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from 'Black Mambo' by Glass Animals because I'm basic ;^)

He squeezed his eyes shut. He could feel himself tearing up, as the needle pierced his skin and made his wrist visibly throb against the other person’s firm grip. He’d read somewhere that focusing on a random object in front of you could stop you from crying, but it really,_ really _ felt like he would actually end up bawling if he even tried to open his eyes again. And calling that ‘lame’ would be an understatement. Anyway, that sounded like the kind of fun fact Kageyama and Hinata would buy, without sparing a single second thought about it –but speaking about Kageyama. 

That asshole was the sole reason why he was sitting in this chair, alone with this guy who he really hoped had enough experience to not, like, pierce his veins or some shit, getting a tattoo of all things. Tadashi would be on the floor at this point probably, laughing himself silly about the absurdity of his current predicament, assuming that he wouldn’t have stepped in when his two friends decided to make that stupid bet in the first place. Why did he even agree to that, really? Was keeping some semblance of pride even worth doing this? 

It’s necessary to mention the fact that Kei is not an unpredictable being. He does not deal in acts of spontaneity and he certainly doesn’t like surprises. Those are Akiteru’s thing and he’d rather not disturb the universe’s natural order. So, his moment of unplanned arrogance really played him and thinking about it was irritating. He’d never live it down. Not because Kageyama would brag about it publicly, no, he’s not the type, but because how in the living fuck do you hide a _dinosaur_ _on_ _your_ _wrist _. 

That’s pretty much as visible as it gets. Kei does like his hoodies and sweaters and long-sleeved shirts, but wearing them when it’s hot outside is hell. Literally. 

“I know it’s your first tattoo and all, but please try to stay a little more still,” the guy mused, not looking away from Kei’s wrist. “I can’t really save this if you move and I mess up, since it’s just linework.” He’d taken the tattoo machine away from his skin and was studying the almost-done masterpiece. 

It looked like one of those fucking dino nuggets. 

Tsukishima Kei, twenty-two years of age, was a serious college student who had never truly, irrevocably wronged a soul in his entire life. There was that one time in high school when he’d directed one of his reflex-quips at Yachi, that almost made her cry, but that mistake had quickly been rectified and all had been forgotten. Perhaps acquiring a permanent mark in the shape of a goofy and historically incorrect edible dinosaur was a consequence of that unfortunate event. Perhaps all had not been forgotten and karma had just taken its time when it came to retaliation. Did he actually deserve this? 

Goes to show how anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. “You can always chop off my hand,” he deadpanned, voice cracking on the first syllable. _Ah. Sh__it_. _He __wasn’t __supposed __to_ _say __that __out __loud _. 

He could feel a familiar heat creeping up the back of his neck. This wasn’t the tattoo artist’s fault, Kei knew that, he was just doing his job. _Great__, __bite back at the dude with the sharp ass needle hovering __above __all those nice, __plump, downright juicy blood vessels__, who is just trying to get this over with. _

His bitter thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a low snicker. “You know. That could be a thing. That could definitely be arranged.” He glanced up, straight at the guy’s lopsided grin. “I think that’s going a bit too far though, even for body mods, but I mean like if you’re into that-“ 

“No.” _Your hair is going a bit too far, even for body mods. _

It’s been a long fucking day. Week. Whatever. 

“This is fine. It’s all fine.” He knew his blush was obvious at this point, but who even cared anymore. Not like he was gonna see this person ever again. “Please keep going.” 

At least The Guy wasn’t too hard on the eyes. Shirt sleeves rolled up, arms covered in tattoos. Stupidly unruly hair that somehow worked for him. A warm, focused gaze and a strong jaw which made up for the pain...a little bit. 

Fifteen minutes later his tattoo was done, all wrapped up, and the artist was animatedly explaining how to take care of it in the near future, seemingly unbothered by Kei’s sour scowl. He then rummaged around the stack of papers and magazines placed all over the front desk – “Ah-hah! Found one!” – turned around holding a matte, black business card, handed it over encouraging him not to be shy about calling if he had any questions and merrily sent him on his way. 

Standing in front of the tattoo parlor, unconsciously clutching the card he was just given for dear life, Kei reconsidered all of his previous life choices. He couldn’t decide if his wrist was oversensitive or if he couldn’t feel it anymore. It was only noon. The sun was shining. His phone buzzed in his pocket. 

** Kageyama ** ** [13:24] **

hinata says to send a pic when ur done we wanna see 

** Me [13:27] **

No. 

*** 

Someone up there really had it in for him. 

“I don’t see why I had to come along as well, Noya-san,” he sighed, for the fourteenth time. He was keeping count. 

One hand in his pocket, the other fiddling with his headphone cord, Kei’s eyes were darting around the same tattoo parlor he told himself he wouldn’t return to three weeks ago, in what he hoped was a totally non-obvious manner. It’s not like he’d _ completely _ embarrassed himself the first time he came in, but he’d rather not have to deal with The Guy again. He wasn’t incompetent when it came to interacting with other people, but despised having to deal with the small talk which ensued from the fact that spending a mere hour or two in someone’s company meant that they were fast friends in society’s eyes. 

“You live just down the street dude, of course you had to come!” Nishinoya beamed at him. 

“And beside that, Hinata said this isn’t your first time here, so like. Maybe you can get us a deal or something.” Tanaka was looking around, studying the art prints on the walls, his grin almost matching the shorter boy’s. 

“OOOOH GOOD THINKING RYUU!” 

Kei groaned inwardly. He felt like all the planets had perfectly aligned when he was born, a straight line of celestial marbles with the sun in its center. He had good grades, a kind family and pretty average looks. Everything an individual could wish for. Except Pluto had then somehow managed to get into the whole ‘am I a planet or not’ debacle and spat him out right at the convergence of all the ley lines of _ idiocy. _

“I’m afraid that’s not even remotely possible, Tanaka-san. It was a one time thing.” Kei frowned. “A fast one time thing.” 

** Tadashi [15:01] **

Hey hi hey. Hello 

** Tadashi [15:02] **

Heard from hinata that youre out with noya and tanaka 

** Me [15:02] **

Wh. 

** Me [15:02] **

Why does everyone keep hearing things about me from Hinata. 

Kei sat down. The couch in the waiting area was soft, he noted. Deceivingly so. 

** Tadashi [15:02] **

Haha you know how he is 

** Tadashi [15:02] **

Anw could you grab some ice cream when you get back? 

** Tadashi [15:03] **

Forgot my wallet on the table. Be back later today 

** Me [15:04] **

Sure. 

** Me [15:04] **

As soon as the boneheads are done gawking. 

They kept gawking for a good while though. Eventually a tall, black haired girl with glasses – probably another artist, sporting her fair share of ink on her neck and forearms – came up to talk to them. At that point Kei realized that by the time they’d be done, the couch would have a trademarked ass-shaped imprint on it, judging by the glint in Tanaka’s eyes and the way they were absolutely not following whatever the girl was saying. He turned the volume to his music up, tuning out all the external noise and unwanted thoughts regarding a certain tattoo artist he absolutely wasn’t avoiding. 

*** 

“No, LISTEN-” 

“Lucky streak, yes. I get it.” 

“Do you though? These past few weeks have been amazing, it’s so nice to see new people come in. And that blond kid? The one with the glasses?” The Guy was practically skipping along the sidewalk, earbuds in, phone in his hand. “Man, I want to get to draw on someone like that again, Kenma. He let ME choose the placement! The size! HE GAVE ME ARTISTIC FREEDOM!” 

“Grab a piece of paper, then, if you’re really that eager.” 

“Kenma, who spat in your cereal? Was it Zelda? Is this why you gotta rain on my parade?” 

“Do not bring my cat into this. I need to get back to my assignments, talk to you later.” 

The Guy unlocked his phone, looking at the call time. Three minutes, huh. Well, at least he’d managed to get his point across. He slowed down, throwing it back in his pocket, and leaned against the door to his workplace. It swung open, bell ringing loudly, and several heads turned towards the noise. 

He smiled and glanced up, thanking whatever higher being decided that the waiting area would be easily visible to the people that came in, but not the other way around. An absolute mastermind, he thought, sauntering over to his desk to drop his lunch. 

*** 

The sudden dip of the couch right next to him is what woke Kei up from his reverie. He hadn’t dozed off, but his eyes had fallen shut at one point, so as to somehow further shield him from the outside world. He knew Nishinoya would probably be the one to bounce back to him when it was time to leave, so he slid his headphones off and turned his head towards- oh. 

“Hey! It’s you!” 

The offender was most certainly not Noya, despite the fact that his hair situation was just as disastrous. Kei tried to hide his surprise and failed spectacularly, response turning into a question at the end. 

“I- yeah?” _It sure is. _

The Guy was comfortably sat right on the edge of his personal bubble, so overwhelmingly bright and open, one long leg tucked under the other, left arm sprawled over the back of the couch and yet at a safe distance from him, that perhaps he didn’t mind allowing his boundaries to be crossed this one time. 

“Yeah, welcome back! I’m surprised you didn’t end up calling about anything! How’s your wrist been? Has it healed okay?” 

“If we ignore the tiny demons still dancing under my skin, all is well. I’ve just uh... been busy.” _ Busy? How is being busy an excuse for not calling to make sure your hand won’t fall off? Oh my god. _

Kei felt the slightest pang of guilt while carefully considering the questions he was just asked. The tiniest, barely-there one. Maybe it was customary to call after an appointment even if you didn’t have specific questions? Maybe he’d been supposed to drop by again to make sure all was, in fact, genuinely well? Google hadn’t said anything of the sort, so he’d carried on with his life up until the point of Tanaka and Nishinoya showing up on his doorstep. 

“No, that’s totally okay. I’m just happy to know you didn’t have any trouble with it,” the artist nodded. “What brings you here today, though? Another appointment, or...?” 

“No, got dragged along.” 

He shifted in his seat just a little, so as to sit up straighter, eyes searching for the people he’d had to accompany, as if he’d only just remembered the reason why he was sitting on the couch in the first place. Which wasn’t just to get some leisure time. The slight change in posture wasn’t lost on The Guy though, a lazy smile slipping into place like it always belonged there, sharp eyes scanning and seemingly seeing through his internal crisis. Didn’t he have to, like, go work or something? 

Kei’s gaze glued itself to Tanaka’s shoulder blades, pointedly ignoring the raven’s presence. He could swear his friend was lowkey flexing in front of the girl, with Nishinoya still at his side, rocking back and forth on his heels. Tanaka’s sudden burst of laughter made him realize that all his attempts of telepathically signaling them his distress were futile. He might as well just shrivel up and let the couch consume him, for all they cared. 

“Are those your friends? I haven’t seen Shimizu talk this much in a while.” 

“What?” Kei finally abandoned the sight of Tanaka’s toned back muscles to settle on the artist’s cheek. His head was turned towards the trio as well. “Ah, yeah. Sorry for disrupting your work.” 

“No, no, it’s nice to see her this engaged in a conversation,” he laughed, “It’s been a slow day anyway. Any and all distractions are welcome.” 

His eyes lingered on them for another moment, smile going full, and then he turned back to Kei. 

“But, well, my lunch break is over and I do actually have to go deal with some stuff.” He stood up, straightening his shirt. “See you around, Tsukishima-kun,” he said with a wink, already moving towards his desk. 

Kei’s stomach made a neat little flip. _Why the hell does he know my name? _

_ *** _

He’d been stuck on the same paragraph for the past hour or so. Something didn’t click, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, and it was infuriating. It was already dark outside, but he didn’t dare look at the time. No need to stress over this essay for longer than he already had, the deadline wasn’t even that close yet. 

He heard the front door opening, followed by the sound of metal against wood – keys being thrown in a bowl, presumably – and a faint ‘I’m home’ coming from the living room. A polite knock against his own room’s door, that didn’t require an answer, and Yamaguchi was faceplanting on top of Kei’s bed with a groan. 

“Long day?” Kei asked, eyes parting with his screen exactly long enough to assess the state Yamaguchi was in, turning back to his laptop the moment he concluded that any damage that had been done was just at a surface level. He could still see him in his peripheral, though. 

“Kinda. Group projects are hell.” 

“Tell me about it,” Kei retorted, memories of the past and the prospect of possible future group assignments flashing through his mind. 

“Well, let’s just say I realized that being a teacher will definitely never be an option I'm willing to consider,” Yamaguchi sighed, standing up and heading back towards the door. “I think I'm just going to get some ice cream and turn in for the night. Where’d you put it?” 

Kei’s mind suddenly went blank. 

“Um. I kind of forgot about it. I’m really sorry.” 

The younger boy stopped in his tracks to turn towards Tsukishima, whose eyes were glued to his desktop, face emotionless. 

“Hey, no worries. You good though?” Since when did Kei forget things? That was new. Something was on his mind. Yamaguchi was considering every possible scenario, but his friend didn’t seem to be upset and he rarely deviated from his routine, which only left... Ah. There _ was _ something unexpected that had recently happened, and Kei’s covered up wrist was enough proof of that. The corners of his mouth curled up, understanding settling in. 

“Why are you giving me that look? I’m fine.” 

“Well, I was just wondering. Especially since you never ended up calling back about your dinosaur, but went there today. Figured maybe the guy at the shop told you it’d really fall off,” Yamaguchi said, full-on grinning as he stepped out of Kei’s room, who was left frowning in confusion. 

Why was that the first conclusion his friend had jumped to? He’d never brought it up before. Maybe it had really been bothering him. Besides, Kei didn’t even know his artist’s name, so why would he still think about it? 

And then it finally clicked._ Oh no, I don't know the man’s name after researching him and meeting him thrice. _

_ Oh no. _

_ Tanaka will definitely drag me back there again. _

He looked over his shoulder, at the hoodie that had haphazardly been thrown on the bed when he got home. In its pocket lay a slightly crumpled, black business card with a certain someone’s contact information on it. 

_ Kuroo Tetsurou, huh? _


End file.
